Compound rotary steam-engine



(No Model.)

l 2 sheets-sheet 2. l RENCE &; J. H. BENNETT. ND ROTARY STEAM ENGINE.

Patente Spt. 4, 1.894.

n ya n 016.

UNITED; STATES VPATENT OFFICE.

. WILLIAM FLORENCE AND JOHN H. BENNETT, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

COMPOUND ROTARY STEAM-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 525,341, datedSeptember 4, 1894. Application filed Januaryvl?, 1894. Serial No.497,144. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Beit known that we, WILLIAM G. FLORENCE and JOHN H. BENNETT, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Newark, Essex county, New Jersey, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Compound Rotary Steam-Engines, fully described and represented in the following specificationand the accompanylng drawings, forming a part of the same.

The object of this invention is to furnish a means 0f securing tripleexpansion or other high ratios of expansion in a rotary steam engine,and the invention consists in the combination with a rotating drumhaving numerous radial sliding pistons, of a succession of chambersaround the periphery of the drum into which such pistons movesuccessively.

Theinvention also consists in specific means for introducing steambeneath the pistons to project them automatically, in means for packingthe edges of the sliding pistons, and in means for reversing the motionof the drum when desired.

The invention will be understood by reference to the annexed drawings,in which- Figure 1 is a vertical section on line m, in Fig. 2. Fig. 2 isa vertical section, where hatched, of the parts intersected by the liney, y, in Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a side View and Fig. 4 an edge View of thecam ring detached from the cylinder head.. Fig. 5 is a perspective viewof one of the pistons upon a larger scale with one of the bearings forthe roller detached. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the detachablebearings for the outer roller. Fig. 7 isa side view of the detachedinner roller, and Fig. 8 isaside View of one of theauti-friction wheelsfor the end of such roll.l Figs. 9 and 10 are sections of the steaminlet cock.

The engine shaft A is shown concentric with a casing B which is formedabout a shell or cylinder O containing two groups of chambers D, D', D2,and E, E', E2. Intermediate to the chambers the shell is formed withconcentric curve F, and heads G are iitted to opposite ends of the shelland casing to close the chambers. The heads embrace opposite ends of thedrum, which is formed with hub H, disks I, and rim .I having radialslots s. Annular clearance spaces I are formedy between the heads andthe drum to diminish the frictional contact.

uto ride upon cam surfaces fu. 'faces are formed upon cam rings o whichPiston slides s are tted movably to the slots and are forced outward bysteam intro-A duced to the bottom of each slot by holes j. The disks Iare perforated in the sides with holes lc, and asteam pipe Z is suppliedto the upper part of one of the spaces, from which the steam passes tothe interior of the drum and to the other space through the holes lo.The lower part of the space is drained by a drip pipe m.

- The outer edges of the piston slides are vprovided with anti-frictionrolls t fitted at opposite ends by pivots t to bearings t2, one of whichis made detachable, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, to insert the roll. Theinner edge of each piston slide is grooved to admit a cylindrical rod uhaving anti-friction Wheels u tted to pivots u2 upon its opposite ends,

The cam surare inserted in annular grooves V inside the heads G. The camrings project inward from the heads, and the outer corners of the drumare formed with annular rabbeted seats It to fit snugly against suchrings; one of which is provided with set screws los and clamp bolts k2to set it adj ustably toward the rabbet in the drum. Such adjustmentsecures a steam tight joint between the interior of the drum and theheads. The periphery of each chamber is segmentally curved so that thepiston slides gradually outwardand inward in its movement through thechamber, and the chambers in each group are made deeper in successionfromthe rst to the'last; by which the capacities of the chambers areincreased in a given ratio. A single inner corner of each cam ring isformed with recesses u2 into which the ends of the piston slides s arefitted, the inner edges of the recesses form- IOO the drum between theslots s, and thus 0perate to retain the steam in the several chambers.The curves F are of uniform length between the several chambers in eachgroup, but the groups are so disposed within the shell that the pistonsin the chambers D, D', D2 may stand at the ends and middle of thechamber when the pistons in the chambers E, E', E2 are in anintermediate position. The shell is shown upon the left side of Fig. lprovided with steam passages and cocks `adjusted to drive the drum tothe right, as

indicated by the arrows a. A steam port d supplies live steam to therear edge of the chamber D, and a similar port e supplies steam to thecorresponding edge of the chamber E. Outlet passages d', d2, are shownextended from the middle of the chambers D and D to the first edge ofthe chambers D and D2. Similar passages e and e2 connect the chambers E,E', E2. Three-way-cocks c and c are shown applied to the passages e, c',e2, and adjusted to open such passages.

Exhaust passages f, f', are extended from the middle of the chambers D2and E2, and such passages would be connected with a condenser through acommon passage t'. With the three-way-cocks adjusted as shown in Fig. l,the operation of the pistons in each group of chambers is similar, andbeing exerted upon opposite sides of the shaft A produces equalpressures at opposite sides of the drum. It will therefore be understoodthat the operation of the steam in the chambers D, D', and D2, isduplicated in the chambers E, E and E2.

The live steam admitted at the port d presses upon the nearest pistonslide in the chamber D and drives it forward. When such slide passes theexhaust port d the supply of such live steam to such piston is cut 0E bythe movement of the succeeding piston over the port d; and the steamalready admitted between the two pistons is discharged by the passage d'into the rear edge of the chamber D', and operates expansively upon thefirst piston moving therein. The chamber D being of greater crosssection than the chamber D, the forward piston moving in such chamberpresents a larger area than the piston in the chamber D, thus securingan effective pressure of the exhaust steam upon the forward piston. Thechamber D2 is in like manner deeper than the chamber D', and the exhauststeam discharged through the passage d2 into the rear edge of thechamber D2 operates in a similar manner upon the piston therein. Fromthe above description it will be seen that a triple expansionof thesteam is secured in the three chambers D, D and D2by forming passagesexternal to the chambers, and connectingthe middle of each with the rearedge of the succeeding chamber. The pistons in the chambers are shownadvanced from the rear edge of such chambers; and therefore intermediateto the ends of the chambers, thus exposing considerable area to thesteampressure at the time when the pistons in the chambers D, D and D2 arecoincident with their steam inlet ports, and thus inoperative. By sucharrangement of the pistons in the two groups of chambers, an effecttiverotative force is exerted at all times upon the drum, and the enginepresents no dead center. Where it is necessary to reverse the rotationsof the drum, it may be effected by the provision of additional passagesshown in dotted lines at the left side of Fig. 1; such passages beingformed about the shell at the side of the other passages, as indicatedin Fig. 2.

The passages e3 connect the cocks c and c with cocks g having ports hleading to the forward end of each chamber.

The cocks g are connected by passages 7L with the condenser passagei,and the ports 7L are open to the condenser during the forward movementof the drum (indicated by the arrows a), thus producing an effectivevacuum upon the forward side of each piston after it passes the middleof each chamber.' The movement of the steam during such forward movementof the drum is indicated by the arrows a', and the movement of the steamwhen the cocks are reversed is indicated by the arrows 0,2. A crosssection ot one of the steam inlet cocks c is shown in Fig. 9 with theplug and its passages arranged to propel the drum forward, and connectthe inner port e with the steam supply M; Fig. 10 shows the plug turnedto throw the live steam into the opposite end of the irst chamber E, andto connect the port e with the condenser. The cocks c and g would besimultaneously reversed by any suitable means, and the steamv would thenoperate in a reverse direction as indicated by the arrows a2.` The steampas-l sages are shown, in Fig. l of the drawings, cast in the metalsurrounding the shell C,

with the plugs of the diierent cocks fitted to` transverse apertures inthe metal; but it is immaterial whether the passages be thus formed, orby means of threaded pipes connecting the ports with suitable cocks. Itis obvious that the shell may be constructed with a single group ofchambers, instead of two as shown in the drawings, and that the numberof chambers, and the number of expansions to which the steam issubjected may also be varied at pleasure. The cocks required forreversing the direction of the steam in its movement through thesuccess- IOO IIS

ive chambers are shown only at the left side of the engine in Fig.1,-and are omitted upon the right side of the shell, as the passage ofthe steam through the ports connecting the successive chambers is muchmore clearly shown without exhibiting the cocks.

It will be observed that when the engine is reversed, the steam passesfrom the chamber D to D', and from the chamber D to D2,

but enters each chamber at the opposite end; the construction thussecuring the expansion of the steam in the same ratio and in the sameorder throughout the succession of chambers. Where the drum is intendedto rotate in one direction only, the engine would be constructed asshown at the right side of Fig. l, Without any reversing cocks; butWhere the drum is intended to rotate in opposite directions the cockswould be applied to all the chambers upon both sides of the engine. Thesteam is shown admitted to the engine upon opposite sides by transversepassages M, which would be -supplied with pipes extended outward throughthe heads G. The exhaust passage'i extends around the greater part ofthe cylinder within the casing B, and may be connected with thecondenser by any suitable means, as by the discharge nozzles N and'pipes N. The entire engine may be surrounded by a steam jacket toprevent radiation if desired. y The admission of steam to the bottoms ofthe piston slides s operates to press the slides elastically outward atall times, and thus greatly reduces the work imposed upon the camsurfaces fv.

The arrangement of the anti-friction wheels u upon the pivot u2 of therod fu, which is attached to the inner edge of each slide, enables thewheels to turnmuch more freely than if the rod were arranged like therolls t, and thus diminishes the friction upon the cam surfaces. All ofsuch sliding and rolling surfaces Would be lubricated by supplying oilto the inlet steam pipe Z.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what is claimedherein isl. In a compound rotary engine, the combination, with arotating drum having a series of radial sliding pistons, of a successionof corresponding chambers in a` shell around the periphery of the druminto and out of which the pistons move successively, with externalpassages connecting the chambers in series, and thus leading the samesteam in succession through the series of chambers, substantially asherein set forth.

2. In a compound rotary engine, the combination, with a 4rot-ating drumhaving a series of radial sliding pistons, of a succession ofcorrespondingchambers in a shell around the periphery of the drum intoand out of ,which the pistons move successively, with external passagesconnecting the chambers in series, and means for reversing the iiow ofthe steam through such passages to reverse the movement of the drum,substantially :ts-herein set forth.

3. In a compound rotary engine, the combination, with a rotatingdrumhaving a series of radial sliding pistons, of a succession ofcorresponding chambers in a shell around the periphery of the drum intoand out of which the pistons move successively, with external passagesconnecting the chambers in series, and three-way-cocksinserted in suchpassages, and reversing passages for leading the steam reversely intothe chambers, substantially as herein set forth.

4.-. In a compound rotary engine, the combination, witha rotating drumhaving a series of radial sliding pistons, of a shell having Within itsperiphery two series of segmentally curved chambers, a steam inlet tothe rst chamber of each series, a steam outlet from the'last chamber ofeach series, and passages connecting the chambers of each series 1nsuccession, as herein set forth.

5. In a triple expansion rotaryv engine, the combination, with a drumhaving eighteen radial sliding pistons, of a shell formed With six dialsliding pistons, of a shell formed With six segmental chambers arrangedin two groups, with the pistons at the end of the chamber 1n one group,when in the intermediate pos1t1on in the other group, heads embracingthe drum and closing the ends of the chambers, opposite steam inlets tothetirst chamber of each group, oppositesteam outlets from the lastchamber of each group, passages connectlng the chambers of each group ineach series, and a casing covering all of such passages and forming asteam jacket over the same, substantially as herein setforth.

7. In a rotary steam engine, the combination, with a rotating drumhavinga series of radial sliding pistons, of a succession ofcorresponding chambers in a shell around the periphery of the drum,heads at opposite sides of the drum closing the ends of the chambers, aclearance space I at the sides of the drum, a pipe admitting steam tosuch clear- I ance space, and apertures leading the steam therefrom tothe inner edges of the sliding pistons, as herein set forth.

8. In a rotary steaml engine, the combination, with a rotating drumhaving a series of radial sliding pistons, of a succession ofcorresponding chambers in a shell around the periphery of the drum,heads at opposite sides of the drum closing the ends of the chambers,clearance spaces at opposite sides of the drum adjacent to the heads, apipe admitting steam to one of such spaces and apertures through thedrum leading the steam to the opposite space, as herein set forth.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses. 4

WILLIAM G. FLORENCE. JOHN H. BENNETT.

Witnesses:

JOHN C. CoRY, THOMAS S. CRANE.

